Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden

cabbages which have been humanely put to death.'

'Who's Samuel Butler? Someone in this nanny government we've got?'

'He was a Victorian philosopher.'

'Oh,' said Agatha uncomfortably. She hated having the vast gaps in her literary education exposed.

'I'll leave you to it.' Jennifer held out her hand. 'No hard feelings?'

'None at all.' Agatha felt her hand seized in a crushing grip like a man's.

After Jennifer had left, and Agatha had just finished dressing, her phone rang. She ran to answer it. 'Jimmy?' she said.

'No, it's Harry here,' creaked the elderly voice. 'We're all ready to leave. The colonel's booked two taxis. Too cold to walk.'

'Be right down,' said Agatha. She replaced the receiver. Jimmy might at least have called.

They set out in their taxis. Agatha wondered what had happened between Mary and Jennifer to heal the breach. Mary was looking quite cheerful and once more she and Jennifer seemed the best of friends. Well, thought Agatha, I suppose Mary's too old to change the habit of a lifetime.

Janine's husband ushered them in. They crowded in the small hall removing coats and hats. Then he guided them through to a back room. It was brightly lit and furnished only with a round table covered in a black velvet cloth.

They seated themselves round it. 'This is jolly exciting,' said the colonel. 'If it looks like ectoplasm, it's probably our Agatha having a sneaky cigarette.' They all laughed except Agatha who said, 'I haven't had a cigarette in ages. I'm cured.'

The room became filled with strange sounds. 'What on earth is that?' asked Harry.

'Whales,' said Daisy. 'It's a tape of the noises whales make. You can buy one in these Mystique shops.'

Mary gave a nervous laugh. 'I never knew any whales.'

'I saw some performing dolphins in Florida once,' said the colonel. 'Jolly clever beasts. Do you know ...'

He broke off because Janine had entered the room. She was dressed in a long white muslin gown, very plain, with long tight sleeves and a high neck. Agatha eyed her curiously. How could she hold this seance, agree to this seance, with her mother so recently dead? And yet, thought Agatha, peering at her closely, despite her heavy make-up, her eyes had the red, strained look of someone who had done a lot of weeping recently.

'Shall we begin?' she said, sitting down. 'Please hold hands and keep holding hands. The circle must not be broken.' The overhead lights were turned off. Now there was only a bluish light shining down on Janine and spotlights that lit up their joined hands around the table, but leaving their faces in darkness.

Agatha was between Daisy and the colonel.

There was a long silence. The whale sounds died away. Janine sat with her head back.

Then she closed her eyes and said in a crooning monotone. 'Who is there?'

And then a man's voice said, 'Hullo, Aggie?'

Agatha tensed.

'It's me, your husband Jimmy Raisin.'

Agatha's skin crawled. Jimmy's accent had been a mixture of Cockney and Irish, just like this voice. Her mind raced. Of course his murder had been in all the papers and his background.

'I'm waiting for you, Aggie,' he said. 'It won't be long now.'

'Can I ask him something?' said Agatha.

Janine sat with her eyes closed. So Agatha said, 'Do you remember our holiday here in Wyckhadden, Jimmy? That's why I came back.'

'And that's how I knew where to find you,' said the cocky voice cheerfully.

Agatha relaxed. She and Jimmy had never been in Wyckhadden.

'That's funny,' she said. 'Because we were never...'

'Someone else wants to get in,' intoned Janine.

There was a long silence. A gust of wind suddenly howled down the lane outside. Appropriate atmospherics, thought Agatha cynically, and yet she was aware of the tension building in the room, of the colonel holding her hand so tightly that she could feel her wedding ring digging into her finger. Silly and old-fashioned to keep wearing a wedding ring, she thought inconsequentially. She cleared her throat. Nothing was happening. The woman was a charlatan. It was time to leave.

And then a low moan escaped Janine's lips and she began to rock backwards and forwards. A thin line of grey smoke escaped from between her lips and hung in the bluish light above her head. Can't be cigarette smoke, thought Agatha. Wonder how she does that? But there was something eerie and unearthly in the moaning. Janine's eyes were tightly closed. Then a thin voice sounded from Janine's lips.

'Hello, daughter. I have now completed my journey to the other side.'

'Mother. How are you?'

'Restless,' wailed the voice. 'My death is not yet avenged.'

'It will be, mother. Who killed you?'

'I know who killed me.'

There was a tense silence and then Mary screamed and leapt to her feet. 'What is it?' asked the colonel. 'What's up, my dear? Dammit, I've had enough of this nonsense.' He walked over to the door and switched on the light.

'Someone kicked me hard,' said Mary.

'You have broken the circle and broken the spell,' said Janine furiously. 'I cannot do anything more.'

'You can't expect us to fork out two hundred pounds for this charade,' said the colonel.

Janine's husband came into the room. 'What's going on?'

'These people broke the circle just when I had got in touch with mother and now they're refusing to pay.' Janine suddenly buried her head in her hands and began to cry.

Cliff suddenly looked menacing. 'We'll see about that.'

'Yes we will see about that,' said the colonel wrathfully. 'Either we all leave peacefully or I will call the police to escort us out of here.'

'Let them go,' said Janine, drying her eyes. 'Let the bastards go.' They made for the door. 'I put a curse on you all,' said Janine.

Daisy gave a terrified little squeak and pressed against the colonel.

'We may as well walk,' said the colonel when they were all gathered outside. 'What did you think of all that, Agatha? Did that sound like your husband?'

'It did a bit,' said Agatha, 'but he was murdered and the murder background was in all the papers. Besides, I'd never been in Wyckhadden before and neither had he.'

Daisy shivered as they walked along the prom which was glittering with frost. 'She cursed us.'

'She only cursed us because she didn't get any money,' said the colonel soothingly. 'I think what we all need is a drink and a quiet game of Scrabble.'

While they played Scrabble, Agatha began to wonder about that supposed conjuring up of Francie's spirit. Surely it meant that Janine suspected one of them. And had someone really kicked Mary? Or had Mary been frightened that she was about to be exposed But Mary was a dainty little thing. Agatha could not imagine her striking such a blow as to kill Francie. And yet a desperate woman could have struck that blow. But why was Francie's door unlocked? Had the murderer a key and then gone away, leaving the door unlocked? Jimmy had said nothing about the body having been moved. Therefore whoever had killed her, had killed her in her bedroom.

So her thoughts raced on and she got chided by the others for playing badly. None of this elderly lot could be guilty, thought Agatha. Just look how they all concentrated on the game.

At last they all went up to their respective rooms and were enclosed in the hotel's usual expensive night-time hush. When Agatha passed the reception desk on her road up, she noticed the night porter was asleep on a chair behind the desk. Anyone could come or go without his noticing, thought Agatha bitterly. He had probably been asleep when that wretched girl walked in and sabotaged my coat.